Refrigerating mechanism



Sept. 5, 1933.

F. R. WEST REFRIGERATING MECHANISM Filed Dec. 4, 1929 INVENTOR Fran/rf7. W05 5.

E- E. A QM/M A TTORNEY Patented Sept. 5, 1933 a I D UNITED STATES'REFRIGERATING MECHANISM Frank R. West, Highland Park, ltlich assignorto Copeland Products, Inc., a corporation of Michigan ApplicationDecember 4, 1929. Serial No. 411,401

8 Claims.

This invention relates to refrigerating mechanism of the mechanicalhousehold type, and particularly to means for controlling thetemperature produced thereby, the principal object being the provisionof a manually controllable mechanism mounted for convenient operationand so constructed as to enable the temperature produced in therefrigerator cabinet, by the refrigerator mechanism, to be easily,quickly and simply varied.

Another object is the provision of a novel manual control for thetemperature control mechanism of a mechanical refrigerating mechanism.

Another object is to provide a new and novel support for the temperaturecontrol bulb of a mechanical refrigerating mechanism.

Another object is to provide a novel supporting means for thecontrolbulb of a mechanical refrigerating mechanism, whereby frosting ofthe return line is substantially eliminated.

Another object is to provide in combination with a mechanicalrefrigerating mechanismhaving a temperature control bulb, a brackethaving direct metallic contact withthe temperature con-.

trolbulb and with the discharge side from the evaporator, whereby anychange of temperature at the discharge end of the evaporator is readilyand quickly transmitted to the temperature control bulb. r

Further objects of the present invention will be obvious fromthefollowing specification, reference being had to the-accompanyingdrawing, in which: I

Fig. l is a front elevation of a mechanically cooled refrigeratingcabinet, a portion of which is broken away to illustrate the mechanismcon tained therein. V

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view taken as on the-line 2 2 of Fig.1 showing the upper portion of the brine tank with the controlmechanismmounted thereon, the near face'of the brine tank being broken away toillustrate the construction of the parts within'the same.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the mechanism shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4. is an end elevation taken from the left hand side of Fig. 2; n

It has been found desirable in connection with mechanical refrigeratingmechanism for household use to, provide manually operable means wherebythe temperature produced by the refrigerating mechanism Within thecooling compartment may be easily and quickly varied. The reason is thatunder normal conditions a relatively moderate temperature only isrequired within the box to properly preserve the food stuff containedtherein, and the higher the temperature thatmay be maintained-in the boxthe more economical the operation of the refrigerating mechanismbecomes. Howevenatrelatively infrequent periods, itis desired toobtain'a relatively low temperature within the cooling compartment, andparticularly in the freezing compartment, in order to quickly freezeice, desserts, or other such materials, the freezing of which 65 wouldtake too long, or which might not freeze at all at the temperaturenormally maintained in the cooling compartment. These lower temperaturesare undesirable under normal conditions because of the increased expensein opera- 701 tion of the refrigerating mechanism and the resultingunnecessary and undesirablefreezing of the bulk of the articles normallykept in the cabinet. It is to this type of control that the presentinvention primarily relates.

I am aware that heretofore a number of constructions have been proposedfor efiecting the above result, but I have found that in those con-.structions the operation of the temperature control bulb which controlsthe switch to the motor is entirely too dependent upon the temperaturewithin the cooling compartment or within the brine tank, with the resultthat where the temperature'in the cooling compartment or in the brinetank does not respond quickly enough to the increased flow ofrefrigerant through the expansion chamber occasioned by moving thecontrol to producethe low temperature, liquid refrigerant is, oftencarried'through thedischarge side of the expansion chamber back to thecompressor, .and this not only freezes up the compressorbut represents awaste in the cost of oper ation, inasmuch as such refrigerant whichfinds its wayout of the evaporator in the liquid state is lost as far ascooling effect is concerned. In this respect it will be obvious thatwhen the evaporator is once filled with liquid refrigerant; any furtherliquidrefrigerant which is pumped into the evaporator, and therebycauses a displacement of liquid refrigerant into the discharge 00passage from 'the evaporator, will have no beneficial effect whatsoeverin tending to produce a lower temperature in the cabinet, for when theevaporator is completely filled with liquid refrigerant, it is in thehighest state of heat absorption that it may reach. Accordingly, it isthe furtherobject of the present invention to provide ameans whereby thepossibility of continued operationpof the refrigerating mechanism afterliquid refrigeranthasbegunflto be discharged 119 from the evaporator,will be eliminated, and the operation of the refrigerating mechanismwill be quickly stopped upon such occurrence.

Referring now to the accompanying drawing, I show in Fig. 1 arefrigerator cabinet having an upper compartment 11 and a lowercompartment 12. The lower compartment 12 which is normally closed by thelouvred cover or door 13 contains a motor 14, a compressor 15 driven bythe motor 14, a condenser 16 connected with the discharge side of thecompressor 15, and a receiver 17 for storing the refrigerant condensedby the condenser 16.

The upper chamber 11 is closed by the doors 18 and 58. Behind the door18 when closed and in the upper portion of the chamber 11 is a bafliemember 19 as in conventional constructions, behind which is located thebrine tank 20 (the Figs. 2 to 4, inclusive) into which project one ormore freezing trays 21 withdrawable from the face of the baffle 19.Referring now to Figures 2 to 4, inelusive, the brine tank 20 is shownas of conventional construction, it comprising a closed hollow sheetmetal container in which the coils 22 serving as the evaporator for therefrigerating mechanism are housed. A conventional type of pressure-actuated expansion valve 23 is shown mounted on the upper surface ofthe brine tank 29, its discharge side being connected to the intake sideof the expander or evaporator 22 which extends directly from theexpansion valve 23 to a point adjacent the bottom of the brine tank 20.The intake sideof the expansion valve 23 is connected to the pipe ortube 25 which is directly connected to the receiver 17. The outlet end26 of the evaporator 22 is supported in the bracket member 27 whichprojects into the upper end of the brine tank 20, the bracket member 27being provided with an opening serving as a passage connecting theevaporator 22 with the tube 29 which leads to the suction side of thecompressor 15. The bracket member 27 which directly connected to theshell of the brine tank 20, as by soldering brazing or other suitablemeans, projects upwardly from the top face of the brine tank 20,

. relation thereto, and screws 32 are provided for drawing the sides ofthe slot together to thereby effect a clamping action on a memberreceived within the bore 30 in the well-known manner.

. Received in the bore 30 and clamped therein against movement by thescrews 32 is the bulb 33 of a conventional type of temperature-actuatedswitch mechanism 34, which is connected to the motorr14 by means of acable such as 35. The

particular type of temperature control mecha-' nism shown is ofwell-known construction and is provided with a rotatable member 35,suitable rotation of which will vary the temperature at which thecontrol bulb 33 will cause the switch mechanism to be operated to startor stop the motor 14.

In accordance with the present invention, I fix to member a pairofdiametrically oppositely. and outwardly projecting lugs or ears 37, eachof which is apertured as at 38. A bracket 40 secured to the top face ofthe brinetank 20 immediately behind the bafiie l9, rotatably sup portsthe shaft 41 which projects out through the bafile 19 and is thereprovided with a head 42 having a pointer 43 and operating handle 44.Suitable indicia 45 are provided on the front face of the bafiie 19 incooperative relationship with the pointer 43. The rear end of the shaft41 is flattened oif and non-rotatably supports thereon a rearwardlyextending U member 45, the free ends of which are reduced as at 46 andare slidably received within the apertures 38 in the ears 37. Thiseffects a universal connection between the head 42 and the rotatablemember 36 on the control whereby rotation of the head 42 by the handle44 will act through the shaft 41 and U shaped member 45 and thencethrough the cars 37 to cause rotation of the member 36. As previouslydescribed, rotation of the member 36 will act to vary the temperature atwhich the bulb 33 will cause the switch mechanism 34 to operate to startor stop the motor 14. Thismechanism, therefore, provides a simple andeffective manual control for the switch mechanism 34.

It will be noted that the bracket 27, which is preferably formed of ametal having high heat conductivity, forms a portion of the returnpassage between the evaporator 22 and the compressor 15. It will also benoted that the bore30 in which the bulb 33 is received and supported is109 formed as close as possibleto the passage 28, this necessitating thebulb 33 being positioned in slightly angular relationship to the topface of the brine tank 20, and the provision of the slip connectionbetween the shaft 41 and the member 36. The reason for this partof theconstruction is that it is desired to get a direct metallic contact overthe shortest path possible between the control bulb 33 and therefrigerant being discharged from the evaporator 22.

forming the passage 28 and the bore 30 for the bulb 33 in closelyadjacent relationship, as described, when thehead 42 is turned toproduce a relatively low temperature within the refrigerator cabinet,should the refrigerating mechanism, in an endeavor to produce such lowtemperature, begin to discharge liquid refrigerant through the dischargeend 26 and passage 28. such liquid refrigerant in passing through thepassage 28 will immediately cause a material 120 drop in the temperatureof the bracket 27, and this drop in temperature will be transmitted;directly through the metal of the bracket '27 to the bulb 33 which,being in a direct metallic contact with the bracket 27, will immediatelybe operated to move the switch mechanism 34 to shut off the motor 14.Thus any material discharge of liquid refrigerant through the passage 28will be accompanied almost immediately" by a stopping of the motor 14,and consequently further discharge of liquid refrigerant from theevaporator 22 will be prevented.

It is, of course, desirable, in order to realize the fullest benefits ofthe present invention, that the evaporator 22 be so constructedthatuntil it is substantially full of liquid refrigerant there will be noopportunity for discharge of liquid refrigerant through the passage 28.In this connection it is to be noted that there are a number ofevaporators now on the market in which this condition will obtain.

Formal changes may be made in the specific embodiment of the inventiondescribed without departing from the spirit or substance of the broadinvention, the" scope of which is commensurate with following claims.

I claim: 1. In a refrigerating mechanism, in combination, an evaporator;a bracket having a passage 159 therein forming a part of the dischargepassage for the evaporator and constructed of metal having high heatconducting properties, and temperature control means including atemperature reber for varying the effect of said control bulb on saidswitch mechanism, a direct metallic contact between the discharge sideof said evaporator and said temperature control bulb, and means operablefrom'the front face of said baflle for controlling the position of saidmovable member.

3. In a mechanical refrigerating mechanism, in combination, a brinetank, a metallic bracket having direct metallic contact with said brinetank secured to the other face thereof, an evaporator within said brinetank discharging through said bracket, a temperature controlled unit forsaid mechanism comprising a temperature responsive bulb, a switchmechanism supported and actuated thereby and a manually adjustablemember for varying the operation of said switch mechanism by saidtemperature responsive bulb, said temperature responsive bulb beingsupported in direct metallic contact with said bracket, a baffle forconcealing the face of said brine tank, a shaft extending through saidbafile in approximate alignment with said control unit, manuallyoperable means exterior to said baflle for controlling the rotatableposition of said shaft, and means operatively connecting said shaft withsaid movable member whereby the movable position thereof may becontrolled from a point exterior to said bafile.

4. The combination with a refrigerating mechanism including acompressor, condenser, expansion valve and evaporator for a refrigerant,of a bracket for supporting the outlet end of said evaporator, athermo-responsive switch unit supported by said bracket and having thethermo-responsive element thereof independent of but in contiguousrelation to said outlet.

5. The combination with a refrigerating mechanism including acompressor, condenser, expansion valve and evaporator for a refrigerant,of a bracket for supporting the outlet end of said evaporator, athermo-responsive switch unit supported by said bracket in such manneras to have the thermo-responsive element thereof in contiguous relationto said outlet and adjustable means associated with said unit forvarying the actuation of said switch relative to the response of saidthermo-element. I

6. The combination with a refrigerating mechanism including acompressor, condenser, expansion valve and evaporator for a refrigerant,of an element of good heat-conducting material constituting the outletend of said evaporator, extensions on said element constituting abracket and a thermo-responsive switch unit supported by said bracket insuch manner as to have the thermoelement of said unit in contiguousrelation to but independent of said outlet.

7 The combination with a refrigerating mechanism including a compressor,condenser, expansion valve and evaporator for a refrigerant, of anelement of good heat-conducting material constituting the outlet end ofsaid evaporator, extensions on said element constituting a bracket, athermo-responsive switch unit supported by said bracket in such manneras to have the thermoelement of said unit in contiguous relation to saidoutlet and regulating means for said switch associated with said unit.v

8. A mechanical refrigerating system comprising a refrigerant condensingunit having an electrical motor, a refrigerant evaporating unit havingan electrical switch mounted thereon for controlling said condensingunit motor, an adjustable temperature control device associated withsaid evaporating unit for operating said switch, a concealing baffledisposed in front of said evaporating unit and projecting therebeyond infront of said switch and said temperature control device, and adjustingmeans mounted on said bafile and accessible from the front surfacethereof for varying the operative relation of said switch and saidtemperature control device.

FRANK R. WEST.

